Change the time zone, drop the temperatures, throw in some more dips, drops and climbs…but the 2017 WorldSBK FIM World Championship still remains in the jaws of veritable ‘king of the jungle’ Jonathan Rea. The reigning number one was the star of two spectacular races at Motorland Aragon this weekend and continued an emphatic run that began in Australia, stretched into Thailand and now stays strong as the series traverses through Europe. Rea won the first race and finished a close second to Chaz Davies after an epic last lap on Sunday in Spain.
With a lead of 50 points already at the top of the standings after three fixtures of thirteen on the calendar and a record that reads 1-1-1-1-1-2 Rea is cranking up the pressure on his rivals by extending his impeccable level of performance and competitiveness.
Under the blue and gusty skies of Aragon and around the sweeping, fast and technically challenging Motorland course (tricky due to the variety of elevation, off-cambered turns and constant changes of direction) Rea entertained the public that defied windy conditions with a first race duel with Ducati’s Davies. The pair circulated close for almost the entire distance; swapping positions and lines until a grandstand finale was wrecked by Davies’ crash with just one lap to go. Rea cruised to win five of five.
“I did the strongest race I could do and I learned a lot,” said Rea, who had also been suffering with illness. “I don’t know how we can manufacture some acceleration out of the chicane and onto the back straight because I was getting annihilated; all I could do was ride shotgun [to Davies] and put as much pressure on as I could and wait for a mistake; that is the only way the door opened up a few times because he missed a few apexes. It was a perfect opportunity to win another race because a last lap battle with him would have been so tough.”
“It is a crash-gifted win and I will take it,” he added. “I also want to dedicate it: this is for my mechanic Ori whose grandfather, Josep, has just died; we spoke a lot before the race and I said I wanted to try and win for him and his family.”
On Sunday Rea scythed to the front in just four circulations and from ninth place on the grid (with the inverted order format new to 2017). From there he faced continual assault from Davies and Marco Melandri that went to a last lap crunch with his countryman. Davies made a mistake that almost let Rea through but the champion came close and attempted a brave line on the final chicane. Contact between the pair left some of Davies’ Pirelli rubber on Rea’s left elbow but the Ducati’s acceleration advantage down the back straight was enough to deny the Kawasaki by half a second at the finish line.
“I’m really happy because I was not feeling good this weekend with my health – I was OK on the bike and it was working really good – but I did not have a lot of energy and today was worse than yesterday,” he said after the podium ceremony. “I had a really good fight and this is historically the strongest track for Chaz and Ducati, so I am really happy to come away with 45 points. Last year we were second and third but we were miles away. This time we race right until the end with Chaz.”
Tom Sykes picked up a podium on Saturday thanks to Davies’ faux pas and walked onto the third step. The 2013 champion had been struggling with a virus and also getting the Ninja ZX-10RR to flick between the fast curves to his liking but still ran to his fourth rostrum of the year. On day two he was further adrift from the leaders and placed fifth.
Pata Yamaha’s Alex Lowes took part in a tasty tussle with teammate Michael Van der Mark in the first race and beat the Dutchman to claim fourth. The battle was renewed on Sunday and after Alex had fronted the pack for three laps. Unfortunately #22 ran off the track at turn fourteen and then had to push to reach the finish in twelfth.
A three-week break now precedes the trip to Assen, Holland for WorldSBK and round four of thirteen that will work across Italy and the UK before heading Stateside to Laguna Seca in July. Rea has won seven of the last eight races at the flowing Dutch layout.
Credit:Monster